MH370: Remembering the Souls - Part 1

Mukherjee was the grandson of Steel and Mines Minister, Mohan Kumaramangalam, who was killed in a plane crash in 1973. Mukherjee worked for XCoal Energy and Resources, a company based in the United States. He’s the company’s vice-president of operations in China.

Mukherjee and his 37-year-old wife were returning from a vacation in Vietnam. The Canadian couple have two sons, aged nine and two, who often travelled with them on vacations. This time, they stayed behind in the family home in Beijing. Mukherjee met Bai in January 2002 while he was on business in Beijing and she was working as his translator.

Mary Burrows & Rodney Burrows Catherine Lawton & Robert Lawton
Female, 54 – Male, 59 Female, 54 – Male, 58
Australia Australia

The Burrows and Lawtons were believed to have been heading off on a long-planned trip to China together.

The Lawtons are described as kindly neighbours, doting grandparents and adventurous spirits who have long roamed the world. Robert had been working for more than 30 years at Sharp Plywood at Wacol and Cathy is visually impaired. They have three daughters. Cathy’s last comment on Facebook was “Off to China’’.

Meanwhile, Rodney had worked for Energex and Mary worked in the police force. Neighbours said the Burrows are hard-working parents of three adult children: two daughters and a son.

The 34-year-old information technology specialist and a father was leaving his home to board Flight 370 when his two boys clung to his legs and didn't want to let him go. He had to promise to bring them chocolates and presents when he returned from his trip to Beijing. Friends and family members described him as a responsible man who would always update his family of his whereabouts no matter which country he was in. His father, Gurusami Subramaniam said he worked for 20 years as a security guard to put his only son through college.

Many know the 35-year-old martial arts expert from his stand-ins as a stunt man in films like "The Grandmaster" and "The Forbidden Kingdom." The latter starred genre luminary Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Ju was slated to begin filming on the Netflix series "Marco Polo" in coming weeks.

Friends said Ju was a sincere, kind and hard working man. Ju's social media account has been flooded with well-wishers praying for his safe return.

Chandrika, the executive secretary of the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers, was en route to Mongolia for a U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization conference. Her husband, K.S Narendran said he received little information from authorities and like most of the world, had relied on news reports. Narendran had considered coming to Kuala Lampur for more information on his wife, but decided against it as he felt there would be no point of doing so.

Weeks left his wedding ring and watch at home when he took a mining job in Mongolia. He had instructed his wife, Danica, to pass them on to his two sons "should anything happen." Danica clutched her husband's wedding ring and fought back tears as she explained to CNN that her husband was aboard MAS MH370 flight, en route to Mongolia. She described him as the most amazing man and father, who always spent time with his boys. She said the hardest part is the cruel mystery: not knowing what happened to the plane. Weeks' brother Paul also called him a best friend. "He has so many friends, more than you could count. People love Paul. And in general, he's just a wonderful man," he said.

His father, Chrisman Siregar said Firman texted him, saying that he was on board and would depart soon. He told him to say a prayer for him to arrive at his destination safe and sound. Chrisman said that he tried to contact his son on Sunday at around 6 a.m., but Firman did not pick up his phone. Firman, graduated from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) in 2011, and was working with a European oil-field services company

Lay, married to Choi Loong Choo, 47, was the chief stewardess on Flight MH370. At 8am Sunday, that dreaded call was made to her in-laws’ to inform that her plane was missing. Lay’s sister-in-law said, they had always feared about this moment but they never talked about it. Whenever Lay was on duty, she would leave her daughter, Wei Ling, 16, at her house where Lay’s father-in-law will help to take care of her. The family had tried to keep the news from the daughter as the information had not yet been confirmed. Wei Ling cried when she heard that the plane was missing.

He and his wife, Intan Maizura, both flight attendants, have a three-year-old daughter. They were expecting their second child in May. Hazrin’s uncle said he was a man of few words but was always cheerful and close to his six sisters. Hazrin, from Subang Jaya, usually flew on the European and Australian routes but had to replace a colleague on MH370. He was supposed to be back on Sunday and fly off to Paris after the Beijing trip.

Philip Wood from Texas is one of the Americans aboard MH370. He was a technical storage executive at IBM Malaysia who was planning to move from Beijing to Malaysia with his girlfriend, an school teacher, Sarah Bajc. He would have almost missed his flight as he had confused the dates, but Bajc from China texted him to make sure he got on the plane. He raised two sons with a former wife. His last text to Sarah was "Would have missed my flight”. She replied: "Go rush love.”

Norli finished packing for her long-overdue honeymoon and posted a photograph on Facebook of her cat trying to sneak into her suitcase. The couple got married on Oct 6, 2012, about a year after courting.

Razahan, tall and solidly built, loved football and the film "Titanic,". He also rode a motorcycle.

The couple originally planned for a honeymoon in Cameron Highlands, but Norli got sick. So they planned a trip to Beijing instead and the excited Norli even told a friend that she dreamed of bumping into Leon Lai, a Chinese actor.

The couple would have also cancelled the Beijing trip as Norli had a miscarriage, weeks before the trip. But, they decided to go ahead and Norli's parents had dropped the couple off at the airport. They said their goodbyes. Neither of them had been on a plane before.

Tony, a recent graduate of St Andrew's Junior College (SAJC) who was on his way to Beijing for a vacation with his parents. He has two younger siblings who were not on the flight. Schoolmates said they last saw the Malaysian student on Monday when they went back to school to receive their A-level results. His friend, Quek, 19, who attended SAJC with Tony, shared a room in the school's hostel. He said Tony was thinking of applying to universities in the United States. He came to Singapore on a scholarship when he was 15. Quek said they attended Catholic High School together.

Tan Size Hiang, a flight steward and father of a 5-year old daughter. His brother, Kenny, described Size Hiang as someone who is very passionate about his job and would always share his in-flight experiences with his family. Size Hiang would call his father before a flight and immediately after arriving back in Kuala Lumpur. Kenny also described Size Hiang as a family-orientated man who also cared for his siblings and parents. He has served the Malaysia Airlines for almost 18 years and also has his own flight simulator at home. He is also a football fan. On March 14, his daughter celebrated her fifth birthday.

The couple's 15-year-old son, Eric Chen Zhi Yang, had no proper sleep since the plane carrying his parents went missing. Zhi Yang’s parents had left the family's home in Klang at 8.30pm on Friday to catch the flight which departed from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 12.40am on Saturday. He said the day had seemed like any other, but he noticed that his parents decided to skip one routine that they usually did prior to any overseas trip. They usually performed prayers at a temple nearby their home before going off on any trip. However, this time they did not do so. Zhi Yang admitted that he cried incessantly upon hearing the news of the flight's disappearance but he had to put up a brave front for his 11-year-old brother, who is unable to understand what is happening.

Vinod, 59, Chetna, 55 & Swanand Kolekar:

The Kolekar were on their way to visit the eldest-born, Sanved Kolekar, who works in Beijing. Sanved was waiting at the Beijing airport when MAS first reported that its flight lost contact with the air traffic control. "My parents are on the flight. I don't know what happened. They (the airlines) haven't given me any information, it's very difficult because I don't understand the local language," he said.

The Kolekars left Mumbai on Friday on a MAS flight to Kuala Lumpur, from where they took the connecting flight to Beijing. Vinod, an engineer, had recently opted for voluntary retirement, his wife had retired as a nurse last year and Swanand has graduated in instrumentation engineering and was awaiting his Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering or GATE results.

44-years-old Kranti, was a former chemistry lecturer from Pune in western India. She was traveling to North Korea to visit her husband, Prahlad Shirsath, who had been working abroad for a non-profit organisation. His contract is supposed to end on Apr 6 and the couple had planned to come back to Mumbai after that. Prahlad traveled to Kuala Lumpur after hearing news that the plane had gone missing.

Prahlad said, “My younger son Tashwant, 11 who daily calls his mother’s cellphone cries after not getting any response". Tashwant and the couple’s other son, Rahul, 16 are waiting in Pune.

After her father's death, Suhaili, the youngest daughter became close to her mother, Rohana, and had often ferried her around, including to nearby mosque. Suhaili, who had recently completed her haaj, was described as an obedient girl who took good care of her mother.

"We feel contented knowing that she had performed her duties as a Muslim. She had been a good daughter especially after her father died," Rohana said.

Suhaili's former schoolteacher Narnyni Ismail, 58, burst into tears when she talked about the employee of Freescale Semiconductor whom she taught in Standard 1. Narnyni described Suhaili as a smart child who was always smiling.

“The kindest soul I have ever come across to in my life. Always smiling, I am sure she is in a better place, with Allah,” her mother said.

Sofuan’s mother always spoke of getting him married. But he was always busy travelling and working, and was not seeing anyone. The International Trade and Industry Ministry (MITI) officer may be tough-looking but he was described as a friendly and soft-hearted person. Sofuan was suppose to leave the country on Feb 7 but was the trip was postponed due to some clearance reasons. A serious worker, his friends and colleagues often look up to him because of his longer experience as a civil servant. The only son of five siblings, he was also active in sports and has taken parts in marathons, swimming and kayaking.

At 10pm on Tuesday, Najib had announced that British investigators from its Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) have confirmed that the flight of Malaysian Airlines MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean.

MH370, which had been missing for the last 17 days disappeared from Malaysian radars at 2.15am on March 8 after taking off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport for Beijing at 1.30am. It carried 239 passengers and crew.